Richard Attends Ceremony Marking Repatriation of Middle Bronze Age Ax

by Naharnet Newsdesk07 September 2018, 19:39

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard on Friday commemorated, at the Beirut National Museum, the return to Lebanon of an ancient ax dating to the Middle Bronze Age (2200-2000 B.C.), the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

The “Bronze Ax” will be displayed permanently at the Beirut National Museum.

In her remarks, Richard highlighted U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) efforts to locate and recover the Bronze Ax.

After receiving a notice from the Government of Lebanon alerting the potential unlawful sale of the Bronze Ax, the FBI launched an investigation and recovered the artifact, the embassy said.

Richard recognized the close collaboration between the U.S. and Lebanese governments to repatriate stolen archeological treasures and combat the illicit trafficking of cultural property – blocking a source of funding for criminal and terrorist networks.